50 Days of Summer
by rachel-jessica-evans
Summary: Kitty wants to escape Lima for the Summer after a stressful year. She finds herself helping out at a rundown Summer camp, where she discovers that certain things are hard to run away from.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

To say that Kitty Wilde was in a bad mood was a complete understatement. She'd had a stressful school year all things considered; a girl fainting because of her, being caught up in a school shooting that turned out not to be a school shooting, being reminded of one of her deepest darkest secrets, having to keep her relationship with Artie Abrams a secret, a major prom slushy incident, coping with the death of a young man she didn't know very well but liked and respected all the same as well as getting all the way to the National show choir championships only to fall at the final hurdle as well as the Glee club being closed down just as she was beginning to really enjoy it and the people in there. So, needless to say the idea of fifteen weeks Summer vacation (105 days to be exact, she'd counted) was something that Kitty was very much looking forward too. She had had it all planned out; she knew that Artie was staring at the Brooklyn Film Academy in the Fall and so she'd planned that they would spend a lot of time together. Artie had been a bolt from the blue for Kitty, she had never imagined in a million years that she would fall for somebody like Artie. It wasn't the chair, it was the fact he was a stereotypical audio geek who was in Glee club but over the year Kitty had found herself developing a weird and unexpected crush on the kid, and she was very surprised when he felt the same and they ended up dating one another. Of course she'd insisted they kept in secret, social pressures and all, but she and Artie had a great time in the short period they were together

She had been so looking forward to Summer vacation; just some time alone with Artie at last. What she hadn't expected was to be dumped two days after the boys graduation. He wasn't mean or cruel about it, he just explained that with him being in New York and her being in Lima, Ohio there was no real way that they could keep dating and be happy at the same time. She knew what he meant. Artie was bound to feel attracted to other girls, and she was bound to be attracted to other boys and he didn't want the pressure or the guilt of that getting too her. Kitty had argued that they didn't need to break up until the end of Summer however that was when Artie gave her an answer that seemingly ripped the heart out of her chest. He was going to New York, immediately. He and Sam were to bunk with the two "Broadway dweebs" as Kitty liked to refer to them for a few months before Artie moved into student halls. She didn't let him know he broke her heart before he left, she even turned up at the airport to say goodbye to him, but he'd broken her heart nonetheless.

So, here she was. On a train into the middle of the countryside to a place called Camp Fairbourne, a summer camp for children aged between eight and twelve. Kitty had hated the idea at first but her desire to get away from Lima for the Summer, a place now tinged with painful memories and people she was either sick of or getting sick of, was too great and she'd ended up applying for a councillor's job. It wasn't like she was missing much in Lima; with Artie gone she didn't really have anyone she was close too, Marley was okay but she still managed to annoy the hell out of Kitty every now and then whilst Unique and Ryder were no go's and Jake, the person Kitty would have been most willing to hang out with, had gone to visit his brother for a few weeks. Jake had even asked her to tag along, but Kitty had decided her past dalliance with Noah Puckerman probably meant it wasn't a good idea. There was nothing left for her in Lima without Artie, and she wasn't prepared to be one those kids who stays in doors all summer because she had no friends. Besides, how hard could looking after a bunch of kids for the summer be? She'd babysat her niece on plenty of occasions, and she was 3, these kids were much older and more capable of looking after themselves. Kitty had convinced herself that she wouldn't be needed all that much, and as a result she could spend most of her fifty days there just chilling on the beach that overlooked the lake. Paradise.

"So, welcome to camp Fairbourne" a slightly overweight woman who apparently went by the name of Billy said to Kitty in a sweet voice one the 16-year old had arrived at the camp. It wasn't _too _bad in Kitty's view, a bit run down but there seemed to be no signs of disease or mass starvation. The lake was beautiful though and Kitty wanted more than nothing to just go down there and catch some sun for a few hours but Billy insisted on giving Kitty the full tour. Which involved walking. A lot of walking. Kitty hadn't realized just how vast the camp's space was, it went right into the middle of the neighbouring forest which was conveniently only reachable by a very steep hill. Billy, despite her sweetness, seemed to enjoy the fact that Kitty was outwardly and rather obviously outraged by this.

"I'll leave you to get settled in for a while" Billy said once she'd shown Kitty to her small but pleasant enough cabin "Make yourself at home, I'll be back once I've shown our other councillor around"

Kitty gave the woman a smile as she left, however the smile quickly faded once she had gone as a realisation crept up on Kitty. What exactly had she let herself in for? Would it not have been easier to have just stayed in Lima and been lonely for one summer. Was that better than staying in a nice but fairly run down cabin which was only accessible by a very steep climb that she could barely do. Kitty noticed that her phone was nearly out of battery and scrambled around to find a plug socket for her charger

"No, no, no, no" she said to herself over and over again as she searched every corner of the cabin for a plug socket but to no avail "Oh my god, there's no electricity. There's no electricity"

Then it dawned on Kitty that there really was no electrical appliances present in the cabin. The lights appeared to be candles, there was a small wind up radio and upon further inspection there didn't seem to be a bathroom. Shuddering, Kitty left her cabin and looked around a little more. She eventually found the bathroom. If you could call a very small cabin with one small shower, a toilet and a sink a proper bathroom.

"I am already regretting this" she said to herself as she exited the cabin/toilet. Billy was back, at the doorway of the cabin next door to Kitty's, evidently introducing the next councillor to the hell they'd accidentally let themselves in for. Kitty made her way over, in her head she was making up excuses about why she would suddenly have to leave but then she remembered that her phone didn't have any bars out here so the excuse of an emergency call or text message was out of the question.

"Ah Kitty, there you are" Billy called from the doorway "Come on over, I want you to meet your fellow councillor for the next few months"

Kitty sighed and continued walking over. Billy was smiling at her

"He's very cute" she whispered to Kitty as she arrived at the cabin. That was a plus, at least she wasn't stuck with some ugly dweeb for the next 2 months

"Kitty Wilde, I'd like you to meet Ryder Lynn"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

OK, so it's not like I despised Ryder Lynn or anything, as far as stupid boys go he was fairly OK. I mean, there had actually been a brief period in time shortly before I started dating Artie that I'd felt some kind of attraction towards Ryder but it had passed very quickly and to be honest other than those 9 days were I thought that I liked him, I really had not had much to do with the kid. OK, that's not strictly true we were in Glee club together and all us sophomore's had ended up being fairly friendly with one another - even if they did all still piss me off in ways I can't even being to describe most of the time - but on a one to one basis, Ryder and I had never exactly clicked. When he revealed his secret to the Glee club, I'd felt sorry for him because I was able to relate to him about it and we'd confided in one another but after that we'd just kind of drifted, especially after he stood me up for that internet freak who was catfishing him. Though, to be fair once everyone found out it was Unique, I didn't feel that way anymore. I actually felt sorry for the girl, she was clearly in love with him and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her once he found out. Not that I could really blame him for that either.

As far as I knew, neither of them had spoken of it since. Which was dumb. But yeah, I went on dating Artie and pretty much having nothing to do with Ryder Lynn. I wasn't pissed he'd turned up at camp but I was surprised, and a little put out. I was meant to be getting away from Lima, Ohio and there he was standing before me, looking about as surprised as I felt. So at least we were on the same page there.

"Is everything OK?" Billy asked

"It's good to see you Kitty" Ryder said with a smile

"Err, I guess" was all I could muster. What was Ryder doing here anyway? Did he want to get away from Lima as badly as I did? He certainly had cause I suppose, but how had we ended up at the same summer camp? What the hell was the chance of that? Ryder was apparently having the same thoughts as we just seemed to stare at one another for what seemed like hours, but was probably only about forty-five seconds maximum. Billy looked just as confused.

"Do you two already know each other" she asked

"Yeah, we err, go to the same school back in Ohio" Ryder said turning to Billy "It's just a bit of a coincidence we ended up here"

"Oh" said Billy with a smile "So y'all friends?"

Ryder and I looked at one another again, both of us clearly unable to decide on an appropriate answer. Were we friends? We weren't enemies, he annoyed the crap outta me with all the pining after Marley but I didn't hate him. We'd shared secrets, dark secrets and there was a time I thought something could have happened between us, but friends? We'd never hung out which each other away from Glee club, I didn't have his cell number, and with the exception of one conversation at Breadstix we'd never really had any deep or meaningful conversations.

Ryder Lynn and I weren't friends. We were acquaintances at best.

"We don't know each other that well" he said coughing slightly to cover up an awkward silence that followed "We were in some classes together and a few clubs, but we've never you know spent a lot of time together"

"Oh well, you can get to know each other well over the summer" Billy smiled, she was clearly one of those annoying women who saw a bright side to every situation "I mean, you will be doing a lot of joint work with the kids, who arrive tomorrow by the way, so I need to go and set up the cabins for them. I'll leave you two to get acquainted some more"

Billy left, and for some reason I wanted to follow her because the last thing I wanted was to be alone with Ryder. I was embarrassed. When I'd told him about being molested, I'd distanced myself from him. I'd only ever told my parents, Artie didn't even know, and I just couldn't face being around the one person who knew the truth about me. I was the bitch. The bad girl who took no prisoners and didn't care what anyone thought of her, but he was probably able to see right through that.

"Soooo" he said after a couple of seconds more silence "This is awkward right? It should be fun though"

"What should be" I asked, sounding a lot more defensive than I had planned

"You know, this, camp. I used to love coming to places like this when I was a kid" he said as he walked over to his bed and began to unpack "I always used to think getting paid to come here and have fun would be the best thing ever, and now I'm here doing it"

"Well Ryder, if this was your lifelong dream than I'm pleased you've made it come true before you're seventeenth birthday" I replied "But, don't expect me to stick around here any longer"

"What do you mean? You leaving?" he asked

"You bothered" I asked raising an eye brow, though I couldn't deny that I was curious to hear his reply

"Not particularly, I mean it'll be fun with you here and everything, but I've only just found out you're here" he replied "It's not like I know what I'm gonna be missing anything, if you wanna go, then go. I'm not gonna stop you, though I do think that you should stay"

"Why?" I asked "Have you seen this place? It's a dump. There's no internet, or phone signal, or even lights. The shower's about as big as the trophy display in the choir room back home, and there's an absolutely foul smell in the air. And there's also bears."

"Yeah, it's called the woods" Ryder said rolling his eyes "What did you think it was going to be like?"

"Not this" I replied, looking around his cabin a little. It was bigger than mine. Naturally, though I suppose he had a much larger head than mine and he probably wouldn't be able to fit it through my tiny doorway. "I mean, I knew the kids stuff would be like this but I thought as helpers or whatever we'd be given privileges. Like TV and stuff"

"Kitty, the whole point of this place is to get away from all that" Ryder said as he stuffed clothes in drawers "I mean, that's why I'm here. To get away. Why are you here anyway? I wouldn't have thought camping and nature was your thing anyway"

"It's not" I said looking down at the floor "But, after Artie broke up with me I just wanted to get away. This was just the place I ended up at, it was either this or become a missionary, it wasn't like I chose it because of a deep love of nature or anything. I'd much rather be in my house, with central heating and internet connection"

Ryder smiled. It annoyed me, though I didn't know why. He'd said he'd wanted to get away too, and it made me wonder what from. Marley and he weren't any closer to dating but she was still talking to him like a best friend, and that seemed to be good enough for him as he hung off her every word. He and Jake were friends again, and he was quite popular at school anyway, it wasn't like he'd have been low on company back in Lima. Even if Sam had gone to New York earlier than planned.

"So, what're you gonna do" he asked me "Are you gonna stay or go?"

"I'll stay" I said with a sigh "As long as you and I get a few things crystal clear. One, we're not gonna suddenly fall in love or anything. Two, we are to make a bathroom schedule so we don't accidentally bump into each other in various states of undress. Three, if you somehow manage to get a cell phone signal you tell me IMMEDIATELY. Four, no talking about Artie and lastly no reminding me... of what I told you back in April alright?"

"Deal" Ryder said offering his hand, I shook it "But, I want to lay down some rules of my own if we're gonna be spending a lot of time together"

"Name them" I said wincing. These were gonna be lame.

"One, you are permitted to three insults per day. I know it would be unrealistic to ask you not to insult me at all, but just keep it to three per day. Two, no insulting or picking on any small kids and three, no talking about Marley. Ever" he said, sounding incredibly stern at the last instruction

"Deal" I said, though I was very confused about the Marley rule. He hung off her every word, she was central to his existence, all he ever did was talk about her. I was very confused, but somewhat relieved, she wasn't particularly interesting or thought provoking anyway

We shook hands again, and I couldn't help but think that Ryder being there might not actually ruin my Summer plans. It might actually make it better.


End file.
